Storm damage

One of the many casualties of the storm last week. I'm glad I wasn't underneath when this branch fell. The poor tree looks very lopsided now.

Holly

Holly berries looking glorious in the sunshine on Sunday morning. I wonder if they've survived the storm.

There are a lot around this year - the result of the good summer, I would say, not the sign of a hard winter to come as others claim.

They never last till Christmas though, do they. I suppose the birds eat them. (And good luck to them.)

Ivy

Ivy flowers this morning

Ivy is not a popular plant, at least not with those who favour tidy gardens (unlike me). Wildlife however loves it. Being evergreen, it provides shelter for birds in the winter, and they nest in its dense foliage. It flowers now, providing nectar for insects when there aren’t many other blossoms around, and fruits in late winter providing food for birds when there's nothing else.

The flowers smell rather sickly but they are always buzzing. My wildflower book says it is pollinated by wasps and flies although Nina (‘The Owl and the Pussycat’) says bees love it too. I shall have a good look next time I pass.

The fruit are a striking pale yellow and gladden human hearts at a bleak time of year.

Ivy fruit, seen in February

A walk in the woods

Cobwebs are everywhere today.

In fences

 

In undergrowth

Even in trees

 Why are there always so many at this time of year, or is it just that we seem them when the air is moist?

Who lives in a house like this, and where are they, and why have they left their blanket behind? (The shelter has been like this for weeks, with no sign of life.)

Sorry for the spots of damp on the lens. The shelter has a closely-woven sloping back and two sides.

 

A human-sized (just) but not cattle-sized bridge, built over a ditch which I think is intended to keep deer out (or in)

Spot the dog

Favourite Walks in Devon

Culm Valley Publishing is a small newish Devon company that produces top-class books on walks in the West Country, and on Monday they have a new book coming out. It’s a collection of favourite walks in Devon contributed by local writers and walkers.

As with all CVP books, the directions are detailed and the information is reliable and thoroughly checked. All the walks are circular. They range throughout the county – across moorland, over hills and fields, through woods, along rivers and beside the sea. The lengths are moderate – usually a couple of hours. A sketch map and photographs are included as well as advice on where to park, where to eat, where to stay and public transport. 

But what’s important, as Jane Fitzgerald, editor of Devon Life magazine, writes in her Foreword, ‘is the connection to, and familiarity with a well-trodden path that shines through’.

Having said all that, I hardly like to tell you that I have contributed two of the walks, one around the River Otter in East Devon and one on Dartmoor in the Warren House Inn/Hookney Tor area.

Favourite Walks in Devon is available from Monday in shops (bookshops, farmshops, post offices), from Culm ValleyPublishing and from Amazon (among others).

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Sky lights

Sunday sunset